Day 55-61 Fiji - Treasure Island (+12 GMT)
12.04.2010
30 °C
We returned the campervan this morning and headed for Christchurch airport. The flight to Nadi in Fiji was nearly 4 hours. from the airport we got a taxi to Vuda marina and got the high speed transfer boat to the island along with Graeme, the general manager, his wife and two children. Graeme was not too happy that we had to make our own way to the marina, and offered us a lift on the boat, 2 hours earler than our scheduled transfer. (They are originally from New Zealand and his wife had visited New Zealand to have a piece of (wine) glass removed from her hand).
The republic of Fiji consists of more than 300 islands. Treasure Island is a 14.5 acre white coral and sand fringed atoll about 17 kilometres from Nadi International Airport.
We have a beachfront bure (62), it's 4 paces to the hammock, 17 paces to the beach, and another 12 to the sea. The weather was forecast to be rainy and cloudy for the week, so we were quite pleased the rain was minimal on our first day. and then cleared up for the next 4 days. Resting in the double hammock just outside our bure and snorkelling seem to be the order of the day.
Hawksbill Sea Turtles (an endangered species) are reared in captivity the island for 12 months. Once they are mature enough to survive in the wild they are tagged and released. The island also has a sanctuary for the Fiji Crested Iguana.
There is plenty of wildlife around from flightless Banded Rails, to parrots landing in the trees above your hammock to a group of 6 black tipped baby reef sharfs that circled us in the water as we sat in the warm shallow water.
Whilst snorkelling, we saw mainly brightly coloured fish including a small stingray and numerous blue starfish.
We hired a kayak for a couple of hours and paddled over to the sandbank and a quick visit to Beachcomber Island. The walk around the beach took about 6 minutes, so we just had time for a frozen cocktail before paddling home.
We watched a Fijian Kava ceremony and tasted the Kava which is made from the same plant they make paper from, it's quite strange and makes your tongue go numb, and yes it does taste like paper. The nights entertainment was made up of local dances and music.
The rest of the week will be made up of the daunting tasks of deciding whether to lie on the beach, in a hammock, snorkel or kayak......
Each day at 10:15 a boat departs for coral viewing and fish feeding - the fish are so used to being fed that they actually eat out of your hand.
Posted by RobBuckley 04:14 Archived in Fiji Tagged round_the_world
It must be really crap being you two!! The adventures just seem to just keep on going. I'm waiting for the bit on day 74 when you say that you've won the lottery and decided to keep on travelling!
17.04.2010 by Paul M